“Are you sure it’s all right to go?” I ask as he banks. He’d said they were monitored.
“We’ll be fast.” Ilryth dives deeper before I can express any further hesitation or doubt. “Hold tight; we’ll be through in a moment.”
I shift my grip, pressing my body closer to his. My forearms are nestled between his body and biceps, elbows just above his.Sturdy. The word fits him so well. Every solid muscle. Every mighty flap of his tail. The duke is a sturdy, solid man. Feeling so much power against me stirs a need in my core—one I haven’t felt in ages.
Focus, Victoria, I caution myself. Carnal needs are only slightly less dangerous than the knot of affection my stomach has been attempting to twist into. While it is entirely possible for many to indulge in pleasure without affection taking root…as much as I would love to be able to divide the two, as much as I wish I could fall into bed with a strong and handsome man, I know I cannot. If I tangle my body with his, my heart will be equally ensnared.
Yes, Ilryth is a man with a body worth appreciating. But that is and will be all I shall think about him, ever. I can admit that much without too much danger to myself.
I try to hold my breath on instinct as we plunge into the pool. There’s the same blink of darkness and the feeling of weight that I felt the first time we crossed over via magic. But this time there’s less chaos, so I can focus more. Or perhaps it’s easier to travel as I am now. Specks of light appear, coalescing into a single point in the distance.
In a blink, we’re swimming back toward the surface. Vertigo spins my head at the sudden and dramatic shift in direction. The world has flipped and the sea has changed.
We swim up from a single mercury tide pool, barely visible in the dimming light. An archway has been carved into the stone cliff behind it, but that is it as far as adornment. The rock is the same dark stone I recognize from the cliffs that frame Dennow.
“We’re here,” I whisper.
CHAPTER23
“I toldyou this excursion would not take long.”
“How did you know where to go?” I ask.
“You mentioned Dennow before. I am familiar with human maps, at least of the shorelines.” That much I can believe, given all the navigational tools and maps I saw in his treasure room.
However, there’s something I don’t quite believe. “I don’t think I mentioned Dennow before.”
“I’m sure you did.”
I shift, staring into the pale strands of hair that sway over the back of his neck. All the nights I spent listening to his song are in the forefront of my mind, along with everything else he’s mentioned. All the other little asides that add up. “Ilryth, you said you came to check on the status of my blessings. On me. Did you ever come here, specifically?”
A long stretch of silence. Long enough that it removes all doubt in what he’s going to say before he does. “Yes.”
I’ll give him credit for not denying it. “Why?”
“You were the offering I had chosen for Lord Krokan, the one the Eversea was waiting for. I wanted to ensure all was well, that the blessing I gave you remained strong so it would keep you safe.” Practical. What I would expect. But then, he adds, “Over time, however, I grew fascinated with your world. With your adventures and the courses you charted. As if you were so determined to explore my domain without ever really sinking into it.”
“I always thought the song was just in my head most nights…how often did you visit me?”
“As often as I could.” He slows his pace as we near the surface. Refuse litters the plateaus of the upper levels of the cliffs near Dennow. Abandoned lines and nets capture nothing but water. There are lost children’s toys bedded down in the sand.
I think of him, swimming through this odd collection of discarded effects most nights, seeing a part of my world I never gave thought to. Above us, the lights of the city are blotted out by large silhouettes of ships and boats, lined up in the wharf and smaller docks. I imagine him drawing as close to the surface as he dared, no one any the wiser of the siren being able to come so, so close to our homes. Or that the siren weren’t the ones to fear at all.
“And you might have heard the song echoing across the Fade, from me to you, from time to time,” he adds. “It wasn’t always from me coming to sing you to sleep.” Ilryth chuckles softly. “I wasn’t sure if you’d hear me at all. Though I should have known better. After forging our connection, it only makes sense.”
Part of me thinks I should be aghast at his presumption to come to me every night. But it wasn’t as if he invaded my space. He never came aboard the ship. He neverdemandedmy attention.
“Your treasure room…”
Our connection must be deep, because he knows what I’m about to say without my needing to say it. “Yes,youinspired me. Every trip, I’d take something back.”
So it was the same mug as that night…
“I enjoyed trying to see where you’d end up next, even if my traveling pools wouldn’t permit me to always follow, or your lighthouses wouldn’t allow me to stay for very long.” I can almost hear the smile in his words. “At least I could be there before you crossed the Gray Passage in your world, trying to ensure you had all the protection I could offer.”
“You…”
He must not have heard me. The thought was weak to begin with.
